IWF Royal Rumble (2001)
Royal Rumble (2001) was the fourteenth annual Royal Rumble professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the International Wrestling Federation (IWF). It took place on January 21, 2001, at the New Orleans Arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. The main event was the Royal Rumble match, which Stone Cold Steve Austin won by last eliminating Kane to win the match, making it his third Royal Rumble win, the first person to ever do so in WWF history. Kane also set a record for the most eliminations. The match also saw Drew Carey enter the Royal Rumble. Featured matches on the undercard included a ladder match between Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit for the IWF Intercontinental Championship and a singles match between Kurt Angle and Triple K for the IWF Championship. Background Event Preliminary matches Main event matches Aftermath Kurt Angle entered a feud with The Rock again and would go to fight him at No Way Out for the IWF Championship in a Singles Match. Kurt Angle would lose the match after being pinned by The Rock losing the championship to him. Triple K would continue his feud with Steve Austin at No Way Out in a Three Stages of Hell Match. Triple K defeated Steve Austin by winning two matches with Steve Austin only one. This match finally ended the Triple K/Austin feud that lasted since SummerSlam. Steve Austin and The Rock would fight once again at WWrestleMania for the IWF Championship in a No Disqualification Match. Steve Austin would win the title thanks to an intereference from Mr. Matteson. The two would have another match the next night on Raw for the title this time inside a Steel Cage. The match went to a no contest due to another intereference by Vince's son-in-law Triple K. Results ; ; *Sunday Night Heat: Lo Down (D'Lo Brown and Chaz)) (w/ Tiger Ali Singh) defeated Kaientai (Taka Michinoku and Funaki) in a Tag team match for a spot in the Royal Rumble match (which ultimately went to Drew Carey) (1:57) *The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley) defeated Edge and Christian © to win the IWF Tag Team Championship (9:59) *Chris Jericho defeated Chris Benoit © in a Ladder match to win the IWF Intercontinental Championship (18:44) *Ivory © (with Steven Richards) defeated Chyna to win the IWF Women's Championship (3:32) *Kurt Angle defeated Triple K for the IWF Championship (24:15) *Steve Austin won the Royal Rumble by last eliminating Kane (1:01:55) Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations Royal Rumble entrances and eliminations A new entrant came out approximately every 2 minutes. Other on-screen talent Trivia *Steve Austin broke the record for most Royal Rumble wins with his third win. The previous record of two wins was held jointly by himself, Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels. *Kane broke the record for most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble with 11. *Comedian Drew Carey appeared on the show and in the Royal Rumble match to hype his upcoming "Improv Comedy PPV". He eliminated himself as after the ring had cleared and he was all alone, Kane came out and Carey attempted to bribe him. Carey eliminated himself after Raven attacked Kane with a kendo stick from behind. *Tonga Fitte who was prior to the event the WCW Hardcore Champion as Meng, made a surprise move to the IWF as Haku. The WCW Hardcore Championship as a result was abandoned. See also *List of IWE pay-per-view events *IWE Event History *Royal Rumble DVD release External links